“I had help...” Jay said tentatively, using the excuse of storing his old hat in his inventory to avoid Lester’s gaze. He equipped the new slime cowboy hat despite the slight loss of health, convinced the speed would be worth it. Unfortunately, he couldn’t run away fast enough to get himself out of the current conversation.
Jenny and Ken smiled as his hat switched to a different cowboy hat, holding back laughter at proof the game wanted him to be a cowboy with a crossbow.
“How much ‘help’ exactly?” Lester asked.
Jay looked over to Taylor Lynn. “How much help were you?”
Lester followed his gaze to see Taylor Lynn rolling her eyes. “We both worked together to organize the raids. Jay here usually hates being in formal guilds. He prefers we explore the game. But we still like raiding, so we needed to find another way. It turns out there are lots of good players that normally play independently. Lots of them still want third-tier celestial gear and other perks from temporary cooperation.”
“And the story about an Ironwrought Angel tank juggling cooldowns to solo the final boss of Tevendar Reaches to finish it off? Is that real? They say the rest of the raid fell when there was still twenty percent of the boss’s health left!” The words tumbled out of Lester. His body leaned forward, watching Taylor Lynn intently, and Ken and Jenny both looked on the edge of their seats. Jay, for his part, was starting to feel pretty awkward about the scrutiny.
“Nope, that one was real,” Taylor Lynn pronounced with a smirk, happy to play narrator to a captive audience. “He’s an outstanding player when you can actually get him online. The only problem was—well—”
Taylor Lynn cut herself off, her excitement dimming as a mostly fake scowl crossed her face. It was, in all likelihood, just a little dramatic flare. Maybe 70% chance of a real grudge... Half-real, at worst.
Jay stared at her, blinking as she suddenly shifted to the old argument. The whole group was now staring at him, waiting for the rest of the story.
With a sigh, Jay admitted his crime: “Taylor Lynn is still mad because I used the only Feather of the Archangel left in the game to finish it.”
“You still had one during the Reaches?” Lester asked, surprised.
“Yeah. When I got mine, I saved it. I never turned it in for the weapon during the first tier. But then I had to use it, or we would have lost the kill. After three cycles, my cooldown rotation had a gap due to the escalating cooldowns,” Jay explained, self-conscious from the attention. A boss kill, in his mind, was absolutely worth some silly artifact.
After a beat, Jenny interjected with a laugh. “That’s metal! We played Tempest Stormlords, too, but we never made it to the Upper Reaches expansion. We started later than most players because mom said we were too young to play when it first came out.”
Ken grumbled something under his breath, the only legible word being: mother.
“Do you think we could get back to”—Jay gestured at the game world around them—“the actual game we’re playing? We’re kind of in a thing here.”
Lester laughed, nodding. “You are the boss.”
The party finally left the circular stone room, Jay leading the way on a straight shot deeper into the dungeon. The lingering mirth from Jay’s interrogation vanished quickly as the maze-like polished hallways began to make them nervous instead. No other monsters surfaced as they passed through several junctions—but didn’t turn—leaving Jay a little jumpy. He was considering a stop to consult everyone else when the hallway abruptly opened into a room in front of them.
He hadn’t noticed a plate in the second room with the Slime Princess, but one was embedded into the door leading into the next room. To Jay alone, it read: At times, the Monster Hunter must be cold-blooded. Enter at your own risk.
Looking at his companions, he could see the same lack of comprehension from the entrance plaque. He read it aloud and watched a wave of the same intrigue and skepticism he felt flicker across their faces.
“That’s super creepy,” Jenny said, her voice shrill with excitement. “I love it!”
“This dungeon is much different than reported,” Lester said, inspecting the plate more closely. He ran his fingers over it, even stooping slightly to smell the strange metal it was inscribed in. “You can really read this?”
“Guess it’s a Monster Hunter thing,” Jay said. Since he was the only one in the game, he wasn’t surprised that the developer of the class had left behind some hidden features. The plaque was still curious, but he hoped the dungeon would reveal more as he moved deeper.
Confirming the group was ready, Jay decided to take the most decisive possible action. He kicked open the door, pointing his smoldering bolt into the room beyond like he was in a cop show.
The third room was structured like a throne room. The stone of the previous regions was replaced with marble. Large pillars supported the twenty-foot ceiling, leaving the room feeling vast. At the far end of the room, a massive, bipedal lizard was seated on a throne, with an even more oversized sword propped up next. This lizard was unconcerned with the presence of the adventurers, gesturing to the other, smaller bipedal lizards in the area to take care of the intruders.
As the party crept cautiously into the room and fanned out, a dozen sets of eyes turned towards them. Each guard carried a spear and a shield, which annoyed Jay. A spear wasn’t a terrific matchup for him in melee combat, and his rush to enter had left his party without orders. The enemies were a bit too close for comfort. The party moved on their own, taking up combat positions, with Lester and Ken stepping out in front of the others.
Heading along the wall next to the door, he noticed that they wore armor made entirely of leather, but the way it was strapped together left gaps in the sides. In the gap area were torso plates, which Jay suspected functioned as natural armor.
The first five enemies made their way for the party, their focus on the ranged party members, who hadn’t yet found a defensible position. The other half dozen lizards stood in the background, observing the fight. Jay wondered if the NPCs would learn from combat or if it was a function of the dungeon to make it easier to clear. He fired his first bolt as the strange bipedal lizards tried to run past Lester, who had advanced to meet the charge. The bolt took it in the shoulder, barely piercing a shoulder plate of natural armor.
The enemies were greatly surprised by the sweeping cleave he struck them with in response. Several lizards turned on him, leaving only one making its way for the back line. Ken had already moved to intercept that lizard, so Jay activated Analyze before firing and drawing some attention.
Lizardman Warrior, Level: 13. Health: 187/250.
Apparently, they were “Lizardmen.”
The cleave attack had already substantially damaged the enemy. Jay called out for the others, except Lester, to focus on the target as Ken met it head-on, simultaneously shooting off the smoldering bolt. As the flurry of attacks began, the enemy fell quickly to the focused fire of four players, leaving only a few minor wounds on Ken.
Jay turned his attention to the other collection of monsters facing Lester. The man was taking some damage, but he was focused on defense as the four Lizardmen brought desperate attacks to bear on his armor. Several of Jenny’s tags were glowing on him, including one that raised his defense. His sword lit with another soft golden glow as he activated an ability. The golden sparks danced as he slashed at the most injured enemy, exploding high amounts of damage upon impact.
“Hero Slash,” he said with a grin as the ability faded.
Jay seized the opportunity and directed the others to all pile on to that specific enemy. The process of grinding through these guards with single-minded focus repeated; they quickly dispatched the remaining Lizardmen. Jay saw the messages flash as he gained experience but ignored them. He preferred to clear rooms before getting distracted by gains.
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The party waited for spears to be thrown, but the Lizardmen simply charged forward. The remaining six Lizardmen advanced, letting out bellows of battle as they lunged forward. This time, Jay drew one of his new slime bolts from his quiver.
It was good that he did, too, as four of the monsters charged past Lester. The other two maneuvered into place as one harried him from the front, and the other blocked his retreat to the back. The sneaky little snakes were smart.
Jay shot the one in the lead with his bolt, causing the Lizardman to freeze in place as slime coated his armor and skin, which hopefully would make it an obstacle for its brethren. As he loaded the next bolt, he briefly contemplated activating his Rapid Fire ability to continue shooting. But four was probably too many for Ken to maintain their attention, and the faster attacks might draw them to Jay.
The decision made, Jay called out, “Back up, Ken. Everyone get to the entryway.” Then he stowed his crossbow and drew out his dagger. The rare blade was strong, but Jay still wished for the ability to dual-wield. Carrying a shield was too cumbersome for his focus on speed. He sprinted toward Ken, significantly boosted by the movement speed from his new hat, meeting the Lizardmen in melee with the Scoundrel.
As a team, they gave the magic users time to retreat into the hallway. The mages blasted potshots from their staves as they backed away. Jay mainly focused on defensive techniques to keep their attention, but he noticed Ken landing solid strikes. Most of the time, Ken’s blade managed to completely block the Lizardmen’s spears in a move Jay hadn’t seen during their duel.
“Hold the gates,” Jay quipped, trying to keep his orders more fun.
The Lizardmen split off, each pair of two trying to fight through Ken or Jay as a unit. Jay did his best to keep pace with the attacks from multiple enemies, realizing they were attempting the same strategy as the two who had pinned Lester in place. Looking over at the other man, he was still holding his own. It was a stalemate, but something would have to give soon.
Through the prolonged fight, he finally understood why he kept getting knocked on his butt. It also helped explain why he kept getting side-swiped by goblins: he was off balance.
As he dodged several more blows, he could tell he was plenty fast, but keeping his footing in combat was becoming difficult. His Speed score was four times great than Balance, so that made some sense. He would need to experiment to see what ratio was required to make utilizing the Speed easier.
He dodged another pair of slashes as he observed Ken’s style of fighting more closely.
Ken’s weapon was much longer, so he had better luck catching the strikes on his rapier. Despite the disparity in size, the rapier was holding well against the Lizardmen’s oversized weapons. The way Ken’s blade moved to meet and block each strike was uncanny.
Jay’s enemies caught his attention again with a painful slice into his thigh.
“Focus!” Jenny commanded loudly as she cast a healing tag on him. He felt the surge of regenerative energy and watched his health tick back up.
Wincing slightly through the pain, Jay charged a Wild Strike and slashed for the leg on the Lizardman to his left. The weapon attack missed the mark for the first time ever. Jay watched with heavy disappointment as the energy dissipated from his weapon without dealing damage. The only upside was that it frustrated him, which brought him proper focus.
Catching one of the blades on his dagger, he pushed the Lizardman’s hand with his free hand and slashed through the opening he had created.
The attack struck true, and thankfully his dagger showed no sign of having trouble holding against the heavier weapons. He side-stepped an attack from the other enemy, using his momentum to land another strike on the injured Lizardman. He fell into a frenzied dance as he slowly diced one of his opponents, realizing he could limit the effect on his balance by keeping his movements slight.
As the first enemy fell, the melee tide started to shift. Jay found that he could shred his new opponent more efficiently with only one attacker to focus on.
He was disappointed since the Lizardmen were supposed to be the same level as him. Even trapping him and Ken, they weren’t putting up as much of a fight as he had been preparing himself for. The warriors seemed quite strong, but their strength didn’t matter if they couldn’t hit Jay. He turned to help Ken.
As he did so, Ken dropped one of his own enemies. His rapier didn’t deal as much damage as Jay’s dagger, but Ken was landing more attacks. Before the melee fighters could deal with their final enemy, a blast of lightning brought the Lizardman down. He turned to Taylor Lynn with a mixture of respect and annoyance.
“Where were you the rest of that fight?” Jay asked. His tone was mixed because he couldn’t decide whether to be playful.
“Conserving mp for the boss,” Taylor Lynn answered, unconcerned. “I would have stepped in if the battle weren’t going well, but we were fine. I’ll work on finding some better regeneration gear.”
Jay eyed her suspiciously but let the conversation drop. “Thanks for the buff, Jenny.”
“It’s called Tag of Vigor,” she explained. “It boosts physical stats temporarily. Is it helping?” At that, everyone expressed their appreciation for the buff. It even helped Taylor Lynn stay agile during the fighting.
“Did everyo-” Lester said, getting quickly cut off.
“You dare blaspheme the temple to my god? You dare bring your disrespect upon Hoth, God of Death?” The Lizardman bellowed his rhetorical questions as he rose from his throne, drawing everyone’s eyes as he suddenly interrupted. He picked up the sword as he walked to the edge of the raised dais. At a closer glance, the blade resembled a large wedge of metal grafted onto a handle, crude and brutal.
“Monster Hunter.” The Lizardman practically spit the word as he descended the steps. Jay scrambled to gather more information by summoning the enemy’s nameplate, uneasy with the call out, as the Lizardman continued: “I challenge you to a duel. My people have always crossed swords with yours. Are you willing to fight for your beliefs?”
Lizardman King, Level 15 [Second Boss]. Health: 1,200/1,200.
While Jay didn’t know what beliefs the NPC was talking about, he was curious about what agreeing to the fight might bring. Clashing one-on-one against the boss was an excellent opportunity to find some answers. He could test the limits and parameters placed on the boss.
His strange conversation with the goblins was still a curiosity. The goblins had seemed to have programming a little more sophisticated than he was used to. Most of all, he wanted the satisfaction of testing himself. Mind made up, Jay made to move towards the reptilian monarch.
Jenny and Taylor Lynn were shaking their heads, Taylor Lynn’s hand holding his shoulder to keep him in place. Lester’s gaze weighed his decision cooly, strengthening Jay’s resolve. He shook off Taylor Lynn’s hand and strode forward, determined.
“What are you doing?” Ken asked, incredulous. “I know you killed the other boss by yourself, but you wasted two potions doing it.”
Jenny was nodding furiously in the background; Taylor Lynn’s hand reached out to grasp his shoulder, to try to keep him there. He met Lester’s gaze for a moment; he looked at him cooly, weighing Jay’s choices on some invisible scale, which only strengthened Jay’s resolve.
“When I say ‘go,’ you go,” Jay said simply, keeping his voice quiet. He wasn’t sure how well lizards could hear, but it was better to be cautious. Then he shook off Taylor Lynn’s hand and strode forward, determined.
“I accept,” Jay agreed, rapidly hefting his already loaded crossbow and blasting the king of the Lizardmen with an Aimed Shot to reduce his damage potential. The extra fire damage manifested as tongues of flame surged from the point of impact.
The Lizardman King roared his disapproval. “As those before you, this hunter fights like a coward.”
Jay had only a moment to register his confusion before the boss charged him at a surprising speed. The giant metal hunk in the king’s hand looked deadly, especially as he towered over him. He would have to hope his agility would be enough.
The first attack facing Jay was a wild haymaker slash. He was certain any attempt to block attacks from this enemy would send him sprawling into the marble. Marble wasn’t very comfortable. Best to avoid that.
Jay stepped to the right, his crossbow skittering out from his hand as he dodged, skipping across the floor to rest 15 feet away. He was shocked to see the marble crack under the blow from the Lizardman’s weapon. Better those were avoided.
He pulled out the bow he stole from the goblins, nocking an arrow into it as he moved to get some distance between them. As the boss telegraphed his next attack, Jay pivoted to the side, aiming for the ground. He shot the back of the knee, then moved back to avoid furious retaliation. He was glad he did because the Lizardman King loosed a vicious 360-degree spin attack.
The next strike came for Jay’s head, seeking to decapitate him. He ducked, releasing another arrow into the Lizardman’s leg. He was hoping the arrows would slow down the Lizardman and his assumption was the enemy would be less likely to defend areas that weren’t vital. The plan seemed to be working at first.
He continued to fight, landing three more arrows into the reptile’s meaty legs. Jay’s opponent was living up to the name ‘boss.’ It wasn’t slowing much, even though its lower half looked like a pin cushion.
Jay sprinted away, avoiding a slash meant to bisect him, and charged a Wild Strike with his next arrow. The attack landed in the Lizardman King’s stomach, chunking off over a hundred health in one blow.
Jay leaped up the stairs with his increased speed, jumping to one of the armrests on the throne. He took the time to activate Rapid Fire from his elevated position and quickly shot the boss with two more arrows. He was starting to get the sense he could keep this up all day, although his arrow stores wouldn’t last forever. As he nocked the next arrow, his confidence was shaken by a sudden feral grin that spread across the king’s face.
The boss maniacally sliced through the air between them, cutting nothing. As Jay paused to stare, completely perplexed, a massive ripple of force slammed into his chest. He was knocked against the throne’s seat, slumping into the chair. His health dropped by two-thirds as he gasped for air. It hurt. He could feel the pain in his stomach. He was foggy from lack of air and the game’s visuals simulated tunnel vision, keeping him down as he waited for the effects to clear. Even though he knew his body was fine in the real world, he could feel the sensory input, creating a strange juxtaposition.
By the time he did recover, the Lizardman King was standing over him. Jay had foolishly let his guard down when the boss didn’t automatically activate any special moves at seventy-five percent health. He had absorbed himself in the duel’s thrill, forgetting to use his analytical skill properly.
“I am the winner, baby Monster Hunter,” the Lizardman King sneered, raising its sword far above its head.
“Go!” Jay yelled as he ducked through the legs of the boss monster.